


Ghosts

by littlemisscurious



Series: Drabble-Sunday [3]
Category: Actor RPF, British Actor RPF, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Comfort, Drabble, F/M, Gen, Ghosts, Hurt, Memories, remembering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-16
Updated: 2014-02-16
Packaged: 2018-01-12 17:45:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1193991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlemisscurious/pseuds/littlemisscurious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>part of my Drabble-Sunday on tumblr</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghosts

 

He watched the young woman opposite him with interest as she fiddled with her notes, a blue pen resting in her left hand. She was clearly nervous and he found her attempts to hide it at least to some extent rather endearing. Often he had been in a similar situation, had shaken sweaty hands, and returned nervous smiles, trying to reassure his interlocutor that he was neither trickster god Loki nor blood-sucking Adam but simply Tom Hiddleston, a man like any other.

Once more she sorted through her sheets of paper before they got the _ok_ to start the interview. It was then, when she lifted her piercing green eyes to look at him, that he realised it was actually the first time since she had entered the room that she actually maintained eye contact, that she looked at him properly.

 

“So, um...Mr Hiddleston,...”

“Tom. Please call me Tom. Mr Hiddleston sounds way too formal and makes me feel old,” Tom smiled and the young woman merely nodded, not responding to his little joke, ere looking at her notes again.

“So,...Tom...A little while ago you said in an interview, and I quote, _“I’ve never been afraid of ghosts. I live with them daily after all.”_ What did you mean by that? Because to me it does sound like a rather heavy burden to carry, to be honest.”

Again, he smiled understandingly. “It does at first glance, doesn’t it. But please allow me to explain.”

 

He ruffled through his greying curls once, thinking about how best to start, knowing that he had just this one attempt at getting it right.

“You know, living with ghosts is not necessarily bad in my opinion. I mean, we are not talking about creepy ghosts here, those that hide in closets and under beds and kitchen tables, and neither am I referring to those regrets of the past that haunt us till the very end. The ghosts I was referring to could rather be compared to memories although I believe that ‘memories’ does not quite cover the concept I had in mind. Memories are gone, they are mere remnants of the past and some are even forgotten over time. Ghosts, however, stay with us.”

The young woman nodded, her big, attentive eyes still resting on him. She had stopped shaking and fiddling, and her legs, though still crossed, had stopped bobbing up and down.

“The ghosts that are still with me, every day, are my wife and my daughter. I know that they’ve been dead for a while, one almost 15 years longer than the other, but that doesn’t mean I erase them from my mind simply because a certain amount of time has passed. Every day they are in my thoughts, they are reflected in my actions. Every wonderful moment I spend with my lovely daughter Maggie has a trace of Louise on it and I relish it, I need it almost. Living with ghosts is nothing to be ashamed of. Most of us actually do but not everyone is willing to admit it. And of those who do, the majority is simply scared and unwilling to remember and to accept.”

 

For a moment silence hang heavy in the air between them and Tom wondered if he’d said something wrong or incredibly indelicate. Her voice was almost a whisper when she finally spoke again.

“Thank you,” she said, a tear now glistening on her cheek.

A part of him was desperate to learn her story, to learn about her ghosts but he didn’t ask. It was none of his business after all. She was an interviewer. Nothing more.


End file.
